"undefined reference" when trying to use lp_solve in C/C++ on Linux

Question

I'm new to linear programming and C. I am trying to use the lp_solve library to solve a linear equation. The problem is I can't get the demo code to work.

As described in the documentation, I downloaded lp_solve_5.5_dev.gz to my Linux machine. I extracted the files into the same folder as my code and tried to compile:

~/Desktop/Code/CA$ cc -o demo demo.c
/tmp/ccpeN8ZV.o: In function `demo':
demo.c:(.text+0x31): undefined reference to `make_lp'
demo.c:(.text+0x62): undefined reference to `set_col_name'
demo.c:(.text+0x7d): undefined reference to `set_col_name'
demo.c:(.text+0xcf): undefined reference to `set_add_rowmode'
demo.c:(.text+0x150): undefined reference to `add_constraintex'
demo.c:(.text+0x1e6): undefined reference to `add_constraintex'
demo.c:(.text+0x274): undefined reference to `add_constraintex'
demo.c:(.text+0x29c): undefined reference to `set_add_rowmode'
demo.c:(.text+0x30b): undefined reference to `set_obj_fnex'
demo.c:(.text+0x327): undefined reference to `set_maxim'
demo.c:(.text+0x33b): undefined reference to `write_LP'
demo.c:(.text+0x34e): undefined reference to `set_verbose'
demo.c:(.text+0x359): undefined reference to `solve'
demo.c:(.text+0x383): undefined reference to `get_objective'
demo.c:(.text+0x3a6): undefined reference to `get_variables'
demo.c:(.text+0x3d2): undefined reference to `get_col_name'
demo.c:(.text+0x429): undefined reference to `delete_lp'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

When I add liblpsolve55.a to the command I get the following errors:

~/Desktop/Code/CA$ cc -o demo demo.c liblpsolve55.a
liblpsolve55.a(lp_lib.o): In function `scaled_floor':
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x6923): undefined reference to `floor'
liblpsolve55.a(lp_lib.o): In function `scaled_ceil':
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x6f03): undefined reference to `ceil'
liblpsolve55.a(lp_lib.o): In function `set_XLI':
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7aa2): undefined reference to `dlclose'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7bb3): undefined reference to `dlopen'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7bd1): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7d8a): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7da6): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7dc2): undefined reference to `dlsym'
liblpsolve55.a(lp_lib.o): In function `set_BFP':
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7eb4): undefined reference to `dlclose'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7fc3): undefined reference to `dlopen'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x7fe1): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x831a): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x8336): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x8352): undefined reference to `dlsym'
lp_lib.c:(.text+0x836e): undefined reference to `dlsym'
liblpsolve55.a(lp_lib.o):lp_lib.c:(.text+0x838a): more undefined references to `dlsym' follow
................

I understand that the lp_solve libraries are not loaded in my code. Can you please tell me how I can properly link the lp_solve libraries?

Answer 1

You're just missing some compiler flags to include the proper libraries. As danielko said, a quick google search on the missing libraries brings up some suggestions. E.g.

Linux c++ error: undefined reference to 'dlopen'

http://sourceforge.net/p/dev-cpp/discussion/48211/thread/3bd8b8a1

These suggest your compilation should be something more like:

cc -o demo demo.c -ldl -llpsolve55

and the lpsolve documentation suggests a command that includes the project directory such as:

cc -I/lp_solve_5.5 -I/lp_solve_5.5/bfp -I/lp_solve_5.5/bfp/bfp_etaPFI -I/lp_solve_5.5/colamd $src -o MyExe.exe -lm -ldl